SDSU hoops lands a biggie: James Johnson

It took James Johnson four years, and there was a 16-month side trip to Charlottesville, Va., but he finally made it to San Diego to play basketball.

Johnson, a 6-foot-10 sophomore transfer who left Virginia’s team a month ago, gave a verbal commitment to San Diego State on Wednesday night and will enroll in classes for the spring semester. He can play next December, after the fall semester concludes, and will have 2½ years of eligibility remaining.

It’s a huge coup for the Aztecs, who lose starting posts Tim Shelton and Garrett Green after this season and have only one returnee (junior DeShawn Stephens) taller than 6-7. Johnson was rated a four-star prospect and the No. 8 center in the country for the class of 2010, choosing Virginia over Arizona, Cal and Oklahoma.

He redshirted his first season at UVa, then appeared in six games this season before announcing his intention to transfer.

“I wanted to come to a place,” Johnson said, “where I could grow my game and grow as a person.”

He had spent nine years in Canada, most of it in Lethbridge, a city of 75,000 in southern Alberta about 30 miles from the Montana border. It was a nice, friendly place with frigid winters and not much in the way of competitive basketball for a kid sprouting to 6-6, then 6-8 and now, he insists, 6-10 with his shoes off.

“It was my dream to play ball and get a (college) scholarship and get to the league and all that,” Johnson said. “I wasn’t in the best position to acquire that if I was in Canada. I figured I should take a risk and come down here.”

He met local AAU coach and Lemon Grove resident Shaun Manning through one of his coaches in Canada, and Manning offered to house and train him. The original plan was to play his junior and senior seasons at Morse High, only for the CIF San Diego Section to deny him eligibility because his parents, who subsequently moved to Wildomar, didn’t live here.

That cost Johnson his junior year of high school basketball, and he spent his senior season at Elsinore High in Wildomar.

Even so, scouts drooled over him on the AAU circuit and he quickly went from a kid literally out of the snowy wilds of Canada to a high-major prospect. Rivals.com rated him the nation’s No. 22 power forward and No. 108 overall. ESPN gave him a scout grade of 93 (out of 100) and called him “an immense talent.”

Virginia coach Tony Bennett fashioned him more as a five-man in an offensive system that is heavy on screening and, Johnson said, asked him to bulk up.

“I got into the high 240s,” Johnson said. “I started having knee problems. I was feeling really slow and unexplosive. But I’ve lost a lot of that (weight). I feel a lot better. I feel a lot more energized.”

Over the weekend he visited New Mexico State, which is coached by former SDSU assistant Marvin Menzies. He flew back to San Diego on Tuesday and went straight to Viejas Arena to catch the game against Chicago State.

“It’s more about people than anything,” Johnson said. “I’ve being seeing all these facilities around the country, and they all look nice, but they fade really fast. I looked at the people and the relationships you have. Coach (Steve) Fisher, Coach (Brian) Dutcher, Coach (Tony) Bland, they’re really good people and they shoot straight with you and they want the best for you.”

He is the fifth member of what already ranks among the greatest recruiting classes in school history. St. John’s transfer Dwayne Polee and Utah transfer J.J. O’Brien are sitting out this season and each have three years of eligibility remaining. Matt Shrigley of La Costa Canyon High and Skylar Spencer of Los Angeles Price High signed letters of intent in the fall.

That leaves SDSU with one scholarship remaining for next season, assuming all the underclassmen on this year’s roster return. The Aztecs are said to be in the hunt for several big-time prospects, among them Findlay Prep’s Winston Shepard and former St. John’s commit Norvel Pelle.

NCAA rules preclude Fisher and his staff from commenting about potential recruits. That includes Johnson for the time being, at least until he signs a scholarship agreement.

Said Ted Johnson, his father: "We're very excited."

Thames feels no pain

SDSU point guard Xavier Thames said his injured knee felt good after playing 26 minutes off the bench Tuesday, his first action since straining his medial collateral ligament on Dec. 21.

"I had to get the game feel back, and the second half I was more confident than the first half," said Thames, who did not make a shot but had four rebounds and six assists. "I was a little tentative in the first half. I got a little scared when I got fouled (and knocked down), but I was fine after that."

The question now becomes whether the 6-3 sophomore starts Saturday against No. 12 UNLV. Fisher said he remains undecided.

"It was good for us to get him in the game," Fisher said, "but he was not the X we have come to know and love. We have to say, what is our most effective lineup right now? In a month, he'll definitely be part of that. But right now, I'm not sure yet."